Do stress and negative life events may us weaker or stronger?
A recent longitudinal study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology* sheds light on this question. The researchers followed a large, representative sample of people over a period of several years. They asked participants to indicate how many negative life events they had experienced in their lives, out of a list of 37 events (ex: illness or injury; assault; financial problems). They also measured other psychological variables such as life satisfaction, distress, impairment in functioning (i.e., difficulty performing social/ work activities because of physical or emotional health problems), and the presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS).
The researchers found a U-shaped relationship between negative life events and psychological health (see graph below). Those who had experienced a large number of negative life events reported having more psychological distress, more functional impairment, more PTS symptoms, and lower life satisfaction. This is really not surprising given the findings of prior research. This basically means that having a lot of bad things happen in your life can weaken you -- psychologically speaking.
What is interesting is the finding that people with some degree of negative life events fared better than people with very little to no history of life stress. In other words, having some adversity in life was better than facing no adversity at all.
Furthermore, the researchers found evidence to suggest that having a history of some adversity helped people deal with recent stress. It is possible that previous life stress made people more capable of handling stress later in life -- as if they has been strengthened by the experience.
The overall findings from this research indicate that stressful life events can benefit us. When there is too much stress and too much hardship in life, it can leave scars. Conversely, when there is very little experience with stress, people miss the opportunity to grow and become stronger, and develop new skills that can be used later in life.
Implications for How We View Stress and Negative Emotions
If you asked 100 people living in North America what they wanted in life -- their top goal, so to speak -- a large proportion would respond with "to be happy." This is an understandable goal given the difficulties and hardship that are a guaranteed part of living.
Unfortunately, the goal of wanting to be happy is complicated. For example, how do you get happy? Many people have their own answers to this question (ex: wealth; success; relationships), although whether they are right or wrong is another issue. Also, what does "wanting to be happy" even mean? How much time must be spent feeling happy to have accomplished your goal? Can it even be called a goal -- is happiness an achievable endpoint? Maybe when people say "happiness" they actually mean "satisfied....generally speaking"?
Here's another question -- if someone constantly strives to achieve happiness in life, what impact might this have on their attitude toward negative emotions? If your goal is to be happy and you are looking for feedback on whether you're reaching this goal, then negative emotions might indicate that you are failing. In other words, if you are someone who constantly strives for happiness, will you be able to derive any benefit from negative emotions and experiences? Or will you tend to view them as setbacks or merely obstacles to overcome?
People are sometimes confused by the notion that one could benefit from negative emotions. How could the presence of something negative be positive? However, as the results of the study show, some degree of difficulty in life is better than none. When it comes to negative emotions, the same principle likely applies -- as life stress is often followed by negative emotions.
For example, if you experience something very stressful (ex: failure at work), negative emotions are likely to follow as a result (ex: anxiety; shame; sadness). If you can use these emotions as motivation, or if you are able to manage the emotions and tolerate them while moving forward in life, then theoretically speaking, you are a stronger and more capable person.
Negative emotions should not be viewed as things that are completely bad or awful. Like stressful life events, they are a part of life and so they must be dealt with at some point or other. When these emotions get too strong or become overbearing, it might be necessary to seek help and make use of professional services to help manage the intensity of the emotions and deal with the stress (ex: talking with a psychologist; medication). Conversely, if someone constantly avoids negative emotions (ex: through food or drugs; avoidance of situations or activities), then their ability to tolerate and manage these emotions weakens -- leaving them vulnerable in the future.
So, if you have to deal with something negative in life, including emotional experiences like anger and sadness, just remember that there is often the potential for personal growth -- even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.
*Seery, Holman, & Silver (2010). Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 1025-1041.
A recent longitudinal study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology* sheds light on this question. The researchers followed a large, representative sample of people over a period of several years. They asked participants to indicate how many negative life events they had experienced in their lives, out of a list of 37 events (ex: illness or injury; assault; financial problems). They also measured other psychological variables such as life satisfaction, distress, impairment in functioning (i.e., difficulty performing social/ work activities because of physical or emotional health problems), and the presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS).
The researchers found a U-shaped relationship between negative life events and psychological health (see graph below). Those who had experienced a large number of negative life events reported having more psychological distress, more functional impairment, more PTS symptoms, and lower life satisfaction. This is really not surprising given the findings of prior research. This basically means that having a lot of bad things happen in your life can weaken you -- psychologically speaking.
Furthermore, the researchers found evidence to suggest that having a history of some adversity helped people deal with recent stress. It is possible that previous life stress made people more capable of handling stress later in life -- as if they has been strengthened by the experience.
The overall findings from this research indicate that stressful life events can benefit us. When there is too much stress and too much hardship in life, it can leave scars. Conversely, when there is very little experience with stress, people miss the opportunity to grow and become stronger, and develop new skills that can be used later in life.
Implications for How We View Stress and Negative Emotions
If you asked 100 people living in North America what they wanted in life -- their top goal, so to speak -- a large proportion would respond with "to be happy." This is an understandable goal given the difficulties and hardship that are a guaranteed part of living.
Unfortunately, the goal of wanting to be happy is complicated. For example, how do you get happy? Many people have their own answers to this question (ex: wealth; success; relationships), although whether they are right or wrong is another issue. Also, what does "wanting to be happy" even mean? How much time must be spent feeling happy to have accomplished your goal? Can it even be called a goal -- is happiness an achievable endpoint? Maybe when people say "happiness" they actually mean "satisfied....generally speaking"?
Here's another question -- if someone constantly strives to achieve happiness in life, what impact might this have on their attitude toward negative emotions? If your goal is to be happy and you are looking for feedback on whether you're reaching this goal, then negative emotions might indicate that you are failing. In other words, if you are someone who constantly strives for happiness, will you be able to derive any benefit from negative emotions and experiences? Or will you tend to view them as setbacks or merely obstacles to overcome?
People are sometimes confused by the notion that one could benefit from negative emotions. How could the presence of something negative be positive? However, as the results of the study show, some degree of difficulty in life is better than none. When it comes to negative emotions, the same principle likely applies -- as life stress is often followed by negative emotions.
For example, if you experience something very stressful (ex: failure at work), negative emotions are likely to follow as a result (ex: anxiety; shame; sadness). If you can use these emotions as motivation, or if you are able to manage the emotions and tolerate them while moving forward in life, then theoretically speaking, you are a stronger and more capable person.
Negative emotions should not be viewed as things that are completely bad or awful. Like stressful life events, they are a part of life and so they must be dealt with at some point or other. When these emotions get too strong or become overbearing, it might be necessary to seek help and make use of professional services to help manage the intensity of the emotions and deal with the stress (ex: talking with a psychologist; medication). Conversely, if someone constantly avoids negative emotions (ex: through food or drugs; avoidance of situations or activities), then their ability to tolerate and manage these emotions weakens -- leaving them vulnerable in the future.
So, if you have to deal with something negative in life, including emotional experiences like anger and sadness, just remember that there is often the potential for personal growth -- even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.
*Seery, Holman, & Silver (2010). Whatever does not kill us: Cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 1025-1041.
4 comments:
Really interesting post! I wonder whether the U-shaped relationship varies with age. Maybe a little bit of adversity when you`re 16 is more adaptive than a moderate amount, but the U-shape really takes hold in adulthood.
I love your blog but could you please change the background? It's really hard to read the text.
Thanks for all the work you put into your blog!
This is great! I have been working on lowering my stress levels, and this was something that helped me understand the true role of stress.
Excellent post.I want to thank you for this informative read, I really appreciate sharing this great post. Keep up your work…
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